Chicagoan donates $75 million, largest gift ever to Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend Indiana. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

A Chicagoan founder of a private investment firm has donated $75 million to the University of Notre Dame, the largest single donation in the school’s history, officials said.

The 1969 graduate and trustee John W. “Jay” Jordan, who has now donated a total of $150 million to the school, announced the gift at this morning’s Board of Trustees meeting.

The donation will go toward the creation of a new research program in science and technology, recruitment of faculty and students and other miscellaneous expenses, including laboratory supplies and equipment, seed grants and prototypes.

“Although I am not very knowledgeable in the technology sector, I know how important it is for our country to maintain leadership in state-of-the-art technology,” Jordan said in a press release. “It is not only critical for socioeconomic reasons but national security as well.”

Jordan’s previous gifts have funded several buildings and programs, including the Jordan Hall of Science, the Jordan Auditorium in the Mendoza College of Business and numerous scholarships, fellowships and grants for the business college, athletics and the Alliance for Catholic Education, according to a press release.

Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, said he was especially pleased that the donation will benefit research.

“We’ve worked hard to become a preeminent research university. (Jordan’s gift) will move Notre Dame forward to become even stronger in the area of research alongside undergraduate education, which will remain important to us,” Jenkins said.

“Words cannot begin to express our deep appreciation for a gift of truly historic proportions,” he added in a press release.

Jordan currently chairs the Board’s Investment Committee, which oversees the University’s endowment, and he is a former chair of the Board’s Finance Committee.

Scott Malpass, the University’s vice president and chief investment officer, said Jordan has helped build the school’s endowment from less than $1 billion to $9 billion.

“We would not be where we are today without his leadership,” Malpass said.

Jordan is a co-founder of The Jordan Company, a private investment firm that acquires, manages and builds companies. He is also chairman and CEO of the Chicago-based holding company Jordan Industries Inc.

Two of Jordan’s children, John W. Jordan III, and Jennifer, also graduated from Notre Dame in 2001 and 2003, respectively.